-The Times of India LONDON: Food wastage is monumental globally, with 30 and 50% of food produced in the world (1.2-2 billion tonnes) is wasted. British MPs on the International Development Committee placed the country's most exhaustive assessment of food security in parliament on Tuesday and has thrown up some seriously worrying findings. They fear that food wastage globally could be as high as 50%. Valuable resources of land, energy, fertiliser and water...

-Live Mint Lack of decentralization means municipalities lack power, resources to meet rising aspirations of ‘middle' India Othakadai, Madurai (Tamil Nadu)/Hubli (Karnataka): S. Paramasivam , president of the Othakadai panchayat, has big plans for his area. "Rainwater harvesting, removal of encroachments on roads, waste recycling, covered drainage, bigger primary health care centres and community parks," lists the 58-year-old, who has spent 30 years in the stainless steel business that dominates industry...

-Down to Earth New deal must not attempt to rewrite or reinterpret the Convention, say developing countries The second session of the ADP, acronym for Ad hoc Working Group on Durban Platform, began in Bonn on April 29, 2013. At the opening session, countries outlined their positions on what they expect of the global deal on climate change, to be decided in 2015 and which will be implemented from 2020. The ADP, which...

Guess what is the total percentage of dalit or tribal members in the boards of big Indian private and public sector companies listed on the stock exchange? Well, shocking as it might be, the real count is nearly zero. A fresh study conducted by D Ajit, Han Donker and Ravi Saxena reveals that at a time when the issues of ethnic and racial inequalities is being discussed all over the world,...

-The Hindu     Imprecise estimates of slums in the 2011 census could affect welfare programmes for least privileged groups The recently published census 2011 report on housing stock, amenities and assets in slums, the first of its kind in the country, reassuringly announced that the number of urban slums has declined and the percentage of households in slums has dropped from 23.5 (2001) to 17.4. On the face of it, this reduction appears...